The Big 10 Held Their Conference Tournament at MSG Because They're Pathetic
The Big 10 wrapped up their men's basketball tournament this past Sunday afternoon as red hot Michigan handled Purdue to earn their second consecutive conference crown. While there was no shortage of great play on the court, the tournament failed to capture the intangible magic that we've come to expect from conference tournaments. This was mainly due to Big 10 commissioner, Jim Delany's decision to move the tournament site from the Midwest to Madison Square Garden in New York City. I should mention, however, that the 2017 tournament was the first to be held outside of the Midwest, when it was hosted in Washington DC, and posted a significant decline in ratings and attendance. Tournament host cities are chosen a few years in advance, so while this wasn't a surprise, it was definitely a head scratcher.
While I understand that Madison Square Garden is one of the most renowned sports venues in the world, and is certainly a treat for the players and coaches who had the opportunity to play there, the location doesn't make sense for the Big 10. By selecting to host the tournament at MSG, the Big 10 had to move their tournament up by a week because the the arena was already booked for the Big East, who have historically used MSG as their tournament site. Starting their conference tournament a week earlier than usual, and a week earlier than the other power 5 conferences, forced the Big 10 to then begin their conference slate a week earlier too. This may not seem like a big deal, but having an extra week to play weaker out-of-conference opponents and tune up your squad can be crucial for a team that's only been playing together for a few months before facing a grueling gauntlet of conference foes. Constricting each team's season by one week also decreases rest and recovery for players, which may not be apparent in December or January, but by March can have detrimental effects on a team physically. In addition to the impact of a shortened season, scheduling the conference tournament a week earlier than usual gives each team almost two idle weeks before the beginning of the NCAA tournament. Conference champions Michigan, will have to keep busy for over a week and a half before they face their first NCAA tournament opponent, and teams knocked out before the finals will have even more time off. Some may argue that the extended break between the two tournaments is beneficial in terms of rest recovery, but history has shown us that 'hot' teams entering the tournament generally fare better than those without momentum. Riding a win streak or a strong conference tournament performance provides an immeasurable sense of confidence and invincibility leading into the big dance and going from 100 mph to 0 can lead to hangover at the worst time of the year. For teams who have been playing competitive games every few days for the past 4 months it will be a challenging adjustment to have an unfamiliar lull. Michigan's biggest challenge leading up to the NCAA tournament will be to keep Big 10 Tournament MVP, Moritz Wagner's hot hand...hot, or at least warm.
The decision to host the Big 10 tournament in New York caused scheduling issues for the players and coaches, but it also created countless logistical challenges for fans. For a conference that has 10 of it's 12 member schools located in the Midwest, the decision to move the tournament site hundreds of miles away from its core fan base is puzzling and selfish. Hosting a conference tournament at a neutral site will always geographically benefit some schools over others, but holding the tournament in New York seems to equally inconvenience everyone. Making the trek from Lincoln, Nebraska or Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City is, in laymen's terms, a pain in the ass. Traveling to New York instead of Chicago or Indianapolis is not only a long and time consuming venture, but it's expensive. More than just the inconvenience of travel, moving the tournament out of the Midwest has had quantifiable repercussions. In 2017 the Big 10 held their conference tournament in Washington DC, the first time outside of Chicago or Indianapolis since the inaugural tournament in 1998. Attendance figures dipped mightily in the new host city, a trend that continued into this year in New York. The 2018 tournament saw a 10% decline in attendance from the 2016 tournament hosted in Indianapolis, and an 11% dip from 2015, when the tournament was last hosted in Chicago. I understand that Jim Delany is seeking to expand his conference's brand to the lucrative East Coast, but at what cost?
Jim Delany has undoubtedly made it a priority to expand the Big 10's brand into new markets, but at a certain point he, and the conference's top brass, need to recognize that the Big 10's identity lies in it's Midwestern roots. Conferences represent regional identity. just how there is something distinctly 'Southern' about SEC football, and how there is a unique 'East Coast' style of Big East basketball, there are Midwestern values at the core of Big 10 schools and their sports. Pretty much every American can find some level of solace and familiarity with their regional conference. College teams tend to recruit locally and their fan bases rarely extend beyond their state's borders, save for a few transplanted alumnus, so it's difficult to conceive why a conference would seek to alienate loyal fans in favor of new blood.
Geographically, hosting the Big 10 tournament in New York seems to make little sense, until you remember that the conference added Rutgers in 2014. Despite New Jersey being a fertile recruiting grounds for both top Basketball and Football prospects, Rutgers has seemingly whiffed on just about all of their homegrown talent. Except for a few decent Football seasons during the mid-2000s, when they were a member of the Big East, Rutgers has had no discernible sustained success in Football or Basketball over the last century (and a less than rabid fan base for that matter), which made the Big 10's decision to add them baffling. The only justification that someone can make as to Rutgers's inclusion into a conference steeped in athletic tradition and with the majority of its teams located hundreds of miles away is that the Big 10 is actively trying to penetrate the New York/Tri-State area market. You could even make the argument that the Big 10 added Rutgers solely to host conference events in New York City. Without having Rutgers as a member, the Big 10 would have struggled to explain why the conference tournament moved to New York. Jim Delany is shamelessly using Rutgers as a pon in the conference chess match. I look forward to the addition of San Diego State and Hawaii when the Big 10 looks for westward expansion.
The ultimate point is that Jim Delany's East Coast experiment has not yielded the results the Big had hoped for. The Big 10 is the Midwest and that's where they belong. Don't get cute, do what works - you owe it to your fans.
